Nothing Is Never An Option
by GleefulHeretic
Summary: "She's...around. And whether we've "hung out" or not is none of your business". Athena x Janey Springs.
1. War Is The Final Option

A/N: I recently played through the pre-sequel and enjoyed the hell out of it in general but one thing that just kind of made me smile over the course of the game's story were the cute bits of dialogue Athena had with Janey Springs, the charismatic moon-lesbian who saves your ass from suffocating to death at the start of the game. Seriously, it's a little worrying, I've never found myself shipping two characters so quickly before (is it even still called "shipping" when Tiny Tina drops the canon bomb on it?). Since then I've been on the lookout for anything on the internet involving the two but it's still pretty soon after the game's release so there's really only one thing to do.

Basically I thought that, in the absence of actually talented writers, I would give it a shot myself. This will be my first attempt at any sort of fanfiction so it'll be interesting to see where it goes at least.

Oh yeah and, for those that last sentence didn't immediately scare away, keep in mind I started writing this thing before Borderlands: The Pre-sequel had any kind of extra content beyond the doppelganger pack. I'm willing to bet if these two have any further interaction in DLC it'll just be more of Janey flirting and Athena getting all tongue-tied but if I'm wrong and there turns out to be a "Help protect Janey and Athena's wedding from scavs" DLC (which I would not put past Gearbox Software for even a moment) then I dun goofed. Anyway, let's get rolling.

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><p>Pandora. Sometime between the events of Borderlands: The Pre-sequel and Borderlands 2.<p>

[ECHO DEVICE ONLINE]

[BEGIN ECHOLOG RECORDING 001 – 21:27PM]Athena here. I'm under orders from my colleague… Agh no, she wouldn't like that. Dammit, hold on I'm starting over.[END ECHOLOG RECORDING 001 – 21:28PM]

[BEGIN ECHOLOG RECORDING 002 – 21:32PM]-eally thought I was getting better at this. Ahem. Ok, Athena here. I'm under orders from my…_partner_…to record my thoughts and, in her words, "just anything that pops into my pretty head while I'm gone". I can't say I understand it but this is the first time I've been away from Elpis for long since the Zarpedon incident and she believes the sound of me talking will help her sleep in my absence so uh, here I go. I don't really know what I'm supposed to say but that's nothing new so I guess I'll simply ramble for a while like I normally do.

Pandora is…well…Pandora. It seems even a full-scale Hyperion invasion hasn't done as much to change this place as Jack likes to think. I landed the ship Janey fixed up for me in the closest thing I could find to a safe place and hid it as well as possible but literally within ten minutes of being here I was attacked by a roaming group of psychos. Welcome to paradise, right?

I managed to deal with my assailants easily enough but once I was done putting them down I walked over the next hill and saw what appeared to be a great many more of them fighting, or rather **trying** to fight against another much larger, much…shoutier psycho. The strangest thing was he seemed to be accompanied by a girl with blue hair wielding some kind of supernatural powers. Another siren on Pandora. Only six can exist in the galaxy at a time and, as far as I know, this planet has seen three of them in the last few years. What are the chances? I was concerned they may have been working with Roland and Lilith's "Crimson Raiders" so I quickly made myself scarce. Honestly, if those two are recruiting those masked madmen into their little band now I wouldn't be surprised.

Speaking of which, despite my…_history_ with them I made a promise to Janey I wouldn't go after Roland, Lilith or Moxxi for what happened on Helios. It was the only way I could get her to stay behind on Elpis. Apparently knowing I'm fighting **one** army by myself was enough worry for her to deal with. She didn't understand why I had to come down here again in the first place but I couldn't just hide and watch while the man I could have…**should** have killed years ago slaughters innocent people like cattle down here.

This whole thing is my fault. Partially at least. This "warrior" he invaded Pandora for? This thing he thinks will allow him to destroy anything that stands against him? He wouldn't have known about it if we hadn't found the vault on Elpis for him. We watched Jack sink into madness and then we handed him the location of a possible alien super weapon as he raved about bathing Pandora in fire. Not exactly my best days work.

I was pissed about Moxxi trying to kill us and I can't say thinking about it doesn't still make my sword hand twitchy but…the more I've seen what Jack is capable of the more I think she may have been onto something back then. I'm not quite a big enough woman to just live and let live but I understand what she must have been thinking. I hear Nisha and Wilhelm are still working for Jack. Helping him "clean this place up". I'll stay away from Sanctuary and the Crimson Raiders, at least their goals are more or less the same as mine, but if I run into the good sheriff or Jack's mechanized attack dog down here I can't promise anything. They may have once been my teammates but we all chose our own paths after Eleseer. If either of them tries to prevent me from stopping Jack I will not hesitate.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll be heading to New Haven for a few things and then I'll look into what I can do to weaken Hyperion's grip on this place. If I know Jack I'll be able to draw him out if I disrupt his operations in the area enough. If I cause him enough trouble perhaps he will assume I'm Lilith or Roland, his hatred for them will get the better of him and he'll show himself long enough for me to cut him down. Even if that doesn't happen I'll at least be making the job easier for Sanctuary. I don't particularly care who deals the killing blow here as long as he's stopped.

So yeah, I have a lot of work to do but, in the meantime I've found what I think is a mostly safe place for me to spend the night. Terrain is favourable in case of an ambush, nearby water source that doesn't appear to be contaminated and I shouldn't have to deal with getting rained on while I sleep because the sky is completely…

…clear…

…

You know, it's funny.

The galaxy is filled with romantic types. Even out here in what I feel like I'm qualified to say is one of the darkest, most violent corners of known space where you're lucky to make it through any given day without some bandit running you down with his truck for the fun of it. Before all the vault-hunting business on Elpis I kept hearing people talking about how pretty the sight of the moon was on Pandora. Even some other Atlas personnel would talk about it like it was some kind of magical, glowing orb of smiles or something. I remember looking up at it while I was doing weapons maintenance one night and thinking it was just another big rock in space. Nothing special about it. Now, five years later, I find myself here staring at that big rock again and things are different. Now it makes me feel like there's a place in this galaxy where I just might…belong.

The Crimson Lance picked us young. I'd been with them for as long as I can remember. When Jess…died…all I wanted was to hit back at them any way I could. Make them pay. I had no idea what I would do or where I would go after Fort Knoxx and its general went up in smoke but when someone raises you from childhood to be a soldier it turns out you can't just lay down and die. I kept fighting like I always have because that was all I knew how to do and eventually I found myself up there. With her.

…

My…home.

…

I'm going to get some sleep. I don't know how long this is going to take but I'll deal with it and get back when I can, Janey. Remember our deal. I keep an eye out for any interesting junk to bring back while I'm here and in return you finish that new story book you've been procrastinating on for the last month. I'll be expecting to hear it once I'm finished here. Stay safe, I'll see you soon.

Oh and…good night, hun. Athena, out.

[END ECHOLOG RECORDING 002 – 22:03PM]

[SEND ECHOLOG RECORDING 002 TO CONTACT: Janey Springs? Y/N]

[ECHOLOG SENT]

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><p>A few years ago on Elpis in the city of Concordia. Shortly after Jack's acquisition of the moon's vault and rise to power in Hyperion.<p>

"Ow! Bloody **hell**!"

Janey Springs cried out in frustration as she accidentally brought the heavy barrier to the front of her store crashing down onto her foot. She'd been meaning to fix the thing for weeks knowing it was broken and something like this would happen eventually but a giant space station arriving and bombarding your back garden with laser fire had a way of making you forget about most other things going on in your life.

She looked up at where Helios had been less than a day ago. A few hours after the laser had stopped firing the station had simply upped sticks and left. Janey had been down in her workshop digging through piles of junk when it happened but she had heard some people around the city talking about how it headed in the direction of Pandora, the planet they were orbiting that slightly exploded a while back. She hadn't heard anything from the team of vault hunters Hyperion had hired to poke around Elpis since they shut the laser down so she assumed they had also left.

Athena too.

Janey sighed. That was a real shame. If she had known that ridiculously sexy gladiator was just going to leave without coming to say goodbye she would probably have gone to see her off. Tell her how crazy hot those boots looked on her. Maybe make one last ditch effort to get a date while she was at it. She kneeled down to secure the bottom of the barrier grumbling quietly to herself as she fiddled with the padlock.

"Stupid, sexy vault hunter…literally falling from the stars…being all kinds of pretty …doing badass things all over the place…pointing that perfect butt at my eyeballs…" She continued grumpily muttering for another minute until a voice spoke up behind her.

"Janey"

The blonde girl barely stopped herself from yelping in surprise having gotten thoroughly lost in her dark-haired, blue-eyed, sword-swinging daydream. Her attempt to whirl around from her kneeling position quickly failed and she ended up ungracefully tumbling over onto her behind instead. She was about to berate whoever had snuck up on her before she noticed those familiar weathered red greaves and almost leapt out of the Elpis gravitational pull with excitement.

"Athena!" she exclaimed as she sprung to her feet, the throbbing pain in her foot suddenly a distant memory. "H-how long have you been standing there? I was…just thinking about you! What are you doing here? I thought you'd gone with…"

She pointed to the empty space in the sky previously inhabited by the Hyperion station. Athena's eyes followed her gesture and Janey saw something dark in the gladiator's face. She hadn't known Athena for longer than a couple of days but one thing she liked to think she did know was the look of a person who was hurting but determined not to show it. She had worn that particular look herself more than a few times. She imagined most people on the border planets had at some point. Except the scavs probably, they seemed a little too happy most of the time.

"What…happened out there? Did you find the vault?" Janey asked apprehensively. She knew Athena was tough and all but whatever had gone down in Vorago Solitude was clearly weighing on her pretty heavily.

A slight grimace made its way through the cracks in Athena's emotional blockade. She continued to gaze, or rather glare, at the Elpis sky and then at the distant Pandora for a few seconds before her expression softened somewhat and she looked back to Janey.

"Are you free? Now?" she asked flatly.

"Uh…y-yeah sure!" Janey replied. "You just caught me closing up shop over here. What do you need? If you're looking to use the grinder I can…let ya'll in for a minute."

Athena managed to pull something that almost resembled a smile to her face.

"Not what I had in mind. That drink you offered me earlier? Now would be a **really** good time for it…"


	2. The Gladiator And The Entrepreneur

A/N: So it seems like where Janey and Athena's relationship went after the end of the pre-sequel might be elaborated on waaay sooner than I'd thought since Janey and Aspis (Athena's shield) were both seen in the preview for episode two of Tales From The Borderlands. Honestly, while I couldn't be happier with this news, I was sure we'd be waiting until Borderlands 3 months or years from now. Perhaps I'll just write like a maniac and finish this story before the episode gets released but we'll see. My writing speed is kind of pathetic.

The current plan is for seven or eight chapters so, with this one, consider me 25% done. Chapter two here was kind of a huge pain to write for some reason but the next one is when things start getting really fluffy so that'll be fun. Anyway, enjoy! Or don't! I'm an author's note, not a cop.

P.S: Speaking of news I couldn't be happier with, it appears Anthony Burch officially confirmed them as a couple on ask fm the other day. Celebrate with me.

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><p>Janey felt somewhat conflicted as she and Athena made the short walk from her storefront to the Up Over bar.<p>

On the one hand she had to restrain herself from actually skipping with joy at the idea of being on something more or less like a date with the armour-clad woman but, on the other she was too worried about her to really enjoy the feeling. Janey glanced over at the girl walking beside her. Athena moved with her usual flawless, military posture but her eyes looked completely exhausted both mentally and physically. Obvious fatigue aside, she just looked…defeated. Whatever happened had clearly taken its toll on her.

As they climbed the stairs into the bar Janey let out a small sigh. She had been crushing on Athena worryingly hard since the the vault hunter had first fallen into her life from Helios and it was nice to think she might have some romantic intention but she knew the truth was Athena probably just needed someone to talk to. A drinking buddy to drown her sorrows with. It certainly wouldn't be the first girl she'd started to fall for who only really saw her as a novelty. Janey walked over to the bar and seated herself on one of the stools before noticing Athena had stopped in the building's entrance, her eyes scanning the area warily. When it seemed the gladiator was satisfied nothing was waiting to leap out at her she looked to Janey who smiled back and patted the stool next to her. Her own feelings were what they were but if a friend was what Athena needed right now then that was what she would be.

Athena seemed to hesitate and, for a moment, Janey thought she looked about ready to turn and run back out the door. Thankfully, her body seemed to relax slightly and she released her grip on the sword at her waist moving across the room and taking a seat next to the taller woman.

"So what's your poison, then?" Janey asked cheerfully. "The saviour of Elpis gets whatever she wants!"

The gladiator reached up to pull her hood back and Janey immediately wondered if refraining from showering her in lame pick-up lines and compliments would be as easy as she had thought a minute ago. She was pretty. Son of a taint she was pretty. Her short black hair was messy, there were dark circles under her eyes and her face was lightly smudged with dirt but somehow it all only made her look more…wait a minute, was she talking? Damnit, Springs! Stop staring at her like an idiot and **speak words**!

"S-sorry, what did you say?" She stammered. "The…music was…kinda loud there."

Athena raised an eyebrow and suddenly Janey wished she were a better liar. It was a bad save. The music was pretty quiet and for a moment she thought the dark-haired swordswoman's look was knowing.

Athena leaned forward and rested her elbows on the bar surface. "Uh, I said I'd have a Rakk Ale, please. If they have it here I mean. I guess I've only ever seen it on Pandora before."

"Well, Moxxi used to run this place before she ran off yesterday and left the whole place to the claptrap over there" Janey replied as she gestured for the nearby bartender claptrap unit to come over. "**She** came from Pandora so it's worth a shot, right?"

The harsh scowl that flashed across Athena's face at the mention of Mad Moxxi was caught and suppressed as quickly as it appeared but spoke volumes nonetheless. Between that and Moxxi having left in a hurry yesterday with her kind of scary friends Janey was at least able to deduce the two of them had had some kind of major falling out. In the gun-for-hire business a "major falling out" was normally resolved by somebody getting shot and the former owner of the Up Over was as cunning as they came. She wasn't sure who had started whatever had obviously happened between them but, despite her frequent attempts to gain Moxxi's attention before Athena showed up she found herself surprisingly certain she would take the gladiator's side if things got ugly. It made her wonder but she shook the thoughts from her head and returned her attention to the woman sitting next to her.

"Here" she said sliding a bottle along the bar to Athena. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Athena took the bottle of Rakk Ale and stared down at it as if trying to decide where to begin with whatever tale she had to tell. Eventually she gave up, her eyes fell shut and her brow furrowed before she raised the drink to her lips. When she brought the bottle back down it was almost half empty.

"You know I used to work for the Atlas Corporation, right?"

Janey nodded. "Mmhmm. I heard the story of how you turned on them and took the Crimson Lance apart on the ECHOnet a while ago. Exciting stuff!"

"Yeah, well basically when you work for a corporation like Atlas for as long as I have you don't find yourself with an over-abundance of social skills." Athena continued.

The blonde woman resisted the urge to tell her that was bullshit and she was perfectly charming but just barely. Instead she stayed quiet and listened. Janey got the impression someone like Athena didn't bare her soul very often and she wasn't going to be the one to interrupt.

"Atlas is a weapons manufacturer when it comes down to it. They make weapons, not people. Why should a tool for killing know anything more about people than where the blades and bullets go? The idea is they keep pointing you at things they want dead until one of those things finally gets the better of you. You're not supposed to leave. Ever."

The gladiator took another drink before continuing, her eyes seemingly fixed on some point in the empty space in front of her as she spoke.

"But I did. For…a variety of reasons. One of them being I discovered our leaders were completely corrupt. The men and women we trusted to wield us. I didn't notice it until it was practically right in front of my face. That's how they wanted it. Whether they were idiots or madmen or even **literally** toddlers they expected us to do as we were told, not question our commanders. The…training they put us through was supposed to make us that way. As far as they're concerned I'm a defective product."

She paused for a moment before raising her bottle to her lips a third time. When she lowered it again the edge of her mouth curled up into the kind of sad smile that made Janey's heart sink a little bit.

"Now I find myself in more or less that same position again where I took far too long to see who the one giving me orders really was. Maybe someone else would have noticed but I was clueless right up until it didn't matter anymore. Again."

"You're…talking about that Jack fella you were working for? The new Hyperion bigwig?" Janey asked. She had seen very little of him while he was in Concordia during the whole thing with Zarpedon but remembered feeling vaguely uneasy when he was around for some reason. She had never quite been able to put her finger on it.

Athena nodded. "He saved our lives on Helios. His efforts are the reason Elpis and half of Pandora aren't space debris right now. I would say he changed somewhere along the way but I'm not so sure the Jack I thought I knew was ever really there to begin with. Perhaps he simply flushed anything remotely honourable about himself out of the airlock with anything else he couldn't afford to gamble on. Whatever he might have been once he's nothing but a deluded, power-hungry madman now…and I let him use me to get what he wanted."

She took another drink, this time nearly draining the bottle completely. When Athena lowered it again she was pressing her thumb into the neck of the bottle so hard it was trembling. It seemed her carefully maintained stoic demeanour was beginning to crumble be it due to rage, the alcohol or a bit of both. Janey knew she had to do something but hadn't quite found the words yet so she simply reached out and laid a comforting hand on Athena's forearm. Whether the gladiator was using the bottle as a substitute for Jack's trachea or not Janey didn't want her shattering it and injuring herself. The second Janey's hand touched her arm Athena's eyes immediately widened slightly and stared at it as if some kind of venomous creature had crawled onto her. Janey was worried the gladiator might snap her arm off but instead she stared at the blonde's hand for a moment before relaxing and releasing her death grip on the bottle. She sent a perplexed look Janey's way, the woman's unfamiliarity with people touching her who didn't wish her bodily harm making itself obvious. Janey smiled back at her.

"Athena? I know I'm just some random, junk-selling moon girl you met a couple of days ago but, for what it's worth? I'm real glad Atlas couldn't get their fingers in you. You said you're a faulty weapon? Maybe you're right about that. Thing is people aren't **supposed** to be weapons. They're supposed to be people and being one of those means making mistakes sometimes. You're the biggest asskicker I've ever seen and that's bloody awesome! Seriously, Deadlift's crew? Those Lost Legion assholes? They were so far out of their league against you it almost wasn't even funny! But, that said, you're also this incredible, beautiful woman with a big old heart in you. If you **were** just a tool only meant for stabbing things you wouldn't be here fretting over this whole mess. You're great."

She squeezed Athena's arm ever so slightly.

"I think you're great."

Athena stared at her for a few seconds before her lips parted and she took in a small breath as if she were about to say something but paused and the swelling in Janey's chest told her it was time to back off or risk freaking the shorter woman out if she hadn't already. She pulled her hand away from Athena's arm and returned it to her own bottle taking a lengthy drink to try and distract herself. If she kept getting carried away like that Athena might just get up and-

"Hm. Beautiful, huh?"

Janey almost choked on her drink at Athena's sudden comment but miraculously managed not to. Crap, had she actually called her beautiful? Why would she have said that? Well, obviously because it was all kinds of true but she had resolved **not** to try and woo Athena tonight. So much for that Springs, you idiot. The last time she called Athena pretty she remembered the warrior woman getting all tongue-tied in the most adorable way. Maybe the booze was lending her confidence. She looked back over at Athena who was staring down into her bottle again but she could have sworn she saw the slightest hint of a smile on the gladiator's face for a second. Janey felt heat rushing to her cheeks as she attempted to recover.

"I…well, that's just…y'know…my opinion..." Was all she could manage to stammer but the silence that followed was a little awkward to say the least. She wracked her brain for something else to say but just when she thought she had something Athena spoke up again.

"Thank you for this. I don't…I've never really had anyone to talk to about this kind of thing before. It is…helpful."

"You're welcome!" Janey chirped thankful for the change of subject. She held her bottle up in Athena's direction. "To life and all its assorted bastards, right?"

Athena chuckled and gently clinked her bottle against Janey's. "You have…quite the way with words, you know that?".

Janey grinned and shrugged. "Of course I do. I'm a legit author remember?"

A big smile spread across Athena's face and, for a moment, Janey felt like she had conquered the highest of mountains. "I do." The gladiator replied. "Although you may want to refrain from using that line in one of those children's books of yours".

"Spoilsport" Janey mock-pouted. The short silence that followed was far less awkward than the last and more like two people genuinely enjoying eachother's company.

"So…what's next for you?" The blonde woman asked in an attempt to find out how much time Athena would be on Elpis for. She quickly regretted it when the smile almost instantly dropped from the gladiator's face.

"Hm. I…honestly hadn't thought about it." Athena replied "I had expected to come out of that job with enough money to keep me going for a while but it…didn't turn out that way. Now it seems I'm pretty much back to square one. Jack's attention is on Pandora now. I'm in no great hurry to return."

Janey looked Athena up and down, again noting how exhausted she looked. She turned back to her drink and bit her thumb as she pondered. An idea had planted itself in her mind about halfway through their time in the bar and only grown more compelling as time passed. She couldn't stand the thought of Athena just walking back out into the lunar wastes alone in her current state.

"Hey, um…Athena? Would you…like to stay at my place tonight?"

Athena instantly looked up at her, the look on her face one of total bewilderment. Had this woman seriously experienced so few acts of kindness in her life that they confused her so much? No. Janey knew why she might have reason to be hesitant. The black marketeer hadn't exactly been subtle expressing her fondness for the gladiator during her stay on Elpis. If Athena was concerned Janey's only thought was to get into her pants she supposed she couldn't really blame her but, while her feelings for Athena had only gotten more serious over the course of the evening, her foremost intention was to tend to Athena's well-being. Although, if the gladiator suddenly decided to tear Janey's clothes off and kiss every inch of her body for whatever reason she doubted she would find it in herself to complain. A girl could dream after all.

"I'm not…I mean, I won't make it...weird or anything. I just think maybe you could use a decent night's sleep. Maybe take a shower?"

Athena blinked and Janey realised how that must have sounded.

"N-not that you smell **bad** or anything! You just…I always feel better after a shower is all." She shrugged and gave Athena a sheepish smile. "Couldn't hurt, right?"

Athena continued to stare at her dumbfounded for a moment longer before she looked away.

"Janey, I…"

"Just for one night!" the blonde woman quickly interjected. "If slumber parties really aren't your thing then feel free to leave first thing tomorrow, I just…I don't like the thought of ya'll sleeping in rags or worse out there. You might find Elpis is worse than Pandora in its own special way…"

Athena looked down at her empty bottle. "Sleeping rough comes with the profession" she stated matter-of-factly.

"I know" Janey replied. "I get that, but just for tonight you don't need to. Consider it a favour to me?"

Athena was quiet for what seemed like a long time before speaking.

"Alright. Okay. I will…pay you back somehow of cour-"

"Nuh uh!" Janey interrupted. "You're doing **me** a favour remember?"

Before the woman in red could object Janey quickly finished her drink and paid the robot at the bar having to quickly remind and then convince the claptrap that it ran the place in Moxxi's absence before rising from her stool and offering Athena a hand. "Shall we go then, my lady?" she said in her best sophisticated voice.

To Janey's surprise Athena, after a second's hesitation, actually did somewhat timidly reach out and take her hand. Janey smiled and helped the battle-weary woman to her feet before letting Athena's gloved fingers leave her own. She would have liked to have held her hand all the way to her place but she also didn't want to push her luck too far too quickly. She would be ecstatic if something eventually ended up happening with Athena but for now she just wanted the gladiator to be okay.

Her hand was still trying to shake off its longing for the touch of Athena's by the time they walked out of the bar into the street when she suddenly felt Athena's fingers close around hers again. She looked at the woman walking beside her who had already pulled up her hood again partially obscuring her face.

"It...seems the alcohol here is more powerful than on Pandora." she muttered quietly. "Would you mind lending me a hand? For support."

That was odd. Janey was notorious for being terrible at holding her drink but she felt fine. Rakk Ale wasn't even that strong. She pondered on how much of a lightweight one would have to be to get wobbly after one bottle of the stuff when a thought so wonderful it made her heart skip a beat occurred to her.

Athena's blue eyes looked up to meet hers briefly before looking away again.

"Perhaps I drank it too quickly"

Janey couldn't help the broad smile that grew across her face as she gently squeezed the gladiator's hand in response. If she was right, and she really hoped she was, then Athena was an even worse liar than she was.

"Heh, perhaps. Come on, my place isn't too far, just a few levels down. There's a mostly comfy sofa with your name on it. Not literally though. That'd be weird even for me."

Athena smiled and the two began the walk to Janey's apartment. It took a few steps for Janey to notice Athena had removed her glove sometime between leaving the bar and taking her hand. The skin on her fingers was somewhat calloused by what Janey imagined were decades of swinging that sword of hers around but the blonde still relished the shorter woman's touch and a pleasant, warm feeling spread up her arm. Under the circumstances Janey decided to allow herself a small deviation from her whole "don't hit on Athena, just be her friend if that's what she needs" plan and gently worked her fingers in-between Athena's intertwining them. For a moment she was worried she may have gone too far and Athena might let go but instead she felt her hand being clutched tighter.

Whatever else might have happened that night, Janey was happy with this. This was good.


	3. Loyal To The Mission Is One Thing

A/N: Hey guys, happy Mercenary Day. I hope Marcus left everyone what they wanted this year. Anyway, I just wanted to take a second to thank everyone who left feedback or favourited/followed so far. I appreciate it.

The following chapter is kind of long compared to the other two but rest assured I'm not just going to keep making each chapter longer than the last until the final one is bigger than the first three combined or anything like that. Chapter four will be comparatively shorter. Also, things might be moving a little slowly right now but believe me when I say they are about to pop off in a big way.

Speaking of which, I feel like I should go ahead and say ahead of time that there will be NSFW chapters in the future. "They will probably bang at some point" doesn't really seem like much of a spoiler in a romance fic but there it is. Now, let's see what these two losers are up to.

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><p>"Well, this is me!" Janey said cheerfully as she all but dragged Athena by the hand to her door.<p>

Concordia was far vaster than the gladiator had assumed on her previous visits. She had walked the streets and even the rooftops of the old Dahl spaceport city but she hadn't realised how far it stretched downward into the moon's surface before now. The lower levels were mostly storage areas and old living quarters for Dahl soldiers before the corporation had packed up and left, now converted into basic apartments for those who had moved in since then. It had probably all looked very uniform back in the day but now the underground halls were covered in graffiti as well as various wanted posters and advertisements. The door to Janey's home was easy to spot. Her name was scrawled across it in brightly coloured paint accompanied by several stick figures and the phrase "PICKLE WOZ ERE!" written with a different colour for each letter like a loud, cockney rainbow. Somewhat more interesting than a nameplate Athena thought.

The blonde woman let go of Athena's hand to open the door, her fingers slipping away from the gladiator's grasp and leaving her surprised by how much she immediately missed Janey's touch. She pulled the glove she had removed back onto her hand and tried her best to compose herself.

It frustrated her. She was a **warrior**, not some blushing schoolgirl. This kind of behaviour was unacceptable. Athena may not have turned out quite the way Atlas had wanted but the doctrine they had spent decades hammering into her head was still there in the back of her mind. She had broken free of them without losing her life in the process but she carried those decades spent as an Atlas assassin wherever she went like an angry superior officer barking in her ear, always there to quickly and sternly remind her she had no business inviting any amount of softness into her life. It wasn't the Atlas way.

Sometimes Athena had to wonder just how "free" she really was.

Her previous employers had always claimed the long list of horrific things they had subjected the assassins to since abducting them as children had eliminated all traces of weakness from them. Any capability to feel love, affection or anything else they thought might distract them from the kill had been forcibly and thoroughly removed. They told her they had killed something inside of her. A useless, troublesome thing they assured her she was better off without and, in over twenty years of doing their dirty work for them, Athena had encountered no reason to doubt that. The Atlas logic was that finding a little girl and forcing her to kill her own parents before dragging her away into a life of unrelenting hardship would empty her out. Leave her hollow enough for them to replace whatever she used to be with what they needed her to be. The instructors had never liked anything more than a blank canvas to work with.

Well, that was the idea at least. If the incident with Athena's sister that led to her turning on Atlas had taught the gladiator anything it was that the process apparently hadn't quite worked as well as it should have on her. She was supposed to be completely barren of all emotions except the bloodlust and desire for victory expected of an Atlas operative, but the first time Janey had expressed an interest in her that part of herself she thought long dead had begun to stir again. It was the smallest sign of life. Barely there, but it was more than enough to catch Athena completely off her guard and make her heart beat faster. She had tried to ignore it at the time. Her mission on Elpis was too important to have the grinning, blonde scrap dealer popping up in her head every few minutes but she quickly found it wasn't quite as simple as that.

Normally when someone showed an attraction to Athena it was a simple matter. She told them she wasn't interested, perhaps broke something if they refused to get the message, and that was the end of it but, as Janey continued to pursue her Athena had found herself unwilling to offer any kind of discouragement. In fact, she had felt inexplicably drawn to the blonde taking any excuse she could to visit her whenever Athena's team of vault hunters passed through Concordia, usually under the guise of needing to use the grinder machine or asking a question she didn't really need the answer to. One particularly embarrassing moment was when she went to see Janey at her store in one of her spare moments but, when the girl had asked her if she needed something, Athena had panicked and ended up throwing three of her best guns into the grinder rather than simply tell Janey she wanted to see her.

Whatever kind of spark Janey's advances had caused in Athena it was all uncharted territory for the gladiator but, however worrying it was, however much that voice in her head told her she wasn't and never would be built for this, she felt a strange compulsion to see where it might go.

Apparently the first step in doing that was making a fool of herself. When Athena had taken the hand Janey had offered her back in the bar she had been unprepared for how pleasant it felt. All she had been able to think about when Janey let go was how the taller girl's hand might feel in hers without the glove and the curiosity had gotten the better of her. She hadn't even thought to come up with a believable reason why she reached out and took the scrap dealers hand again. Athena winced as a powerful cringe ran through her body at the fresh memory. So drunk she couldn't walk straight after one bottle of Rakk Ale? She really couldn't think of anything better than that?

"Um…Athena?"

The gladiator immediately snapped out of her introspective daydream at the sound of Janey's voice. It seemed she had finally gotten the door open but was positioned halfway inside it with a somewhat sheepish look on her face.

"Could you wait here for just a sec? I uh…I just remembered I need to clean up a little! I wasn't really expecting guests. Just…just wait here for **literally** ten seconds, I'll be right back."

The blonde hurriedly retreated inside the door closing it behind her but barely a second passed before it opened again and Janey's head popped out.

"Don't go anywhere, okay?"

The door closed again leaving Athena alone in the hallway. Out of habit she glanced left and right in search of suspicious movement but her attention was quickly drawn back to Janey's colourful door by the sounds of frantic scrambling inside.

* * *

><p>The posters. How could she have forgotten about the bloody Moxxi posters?<p>

Janey sprinted around her apartment like a tork gone mad, rapidly tearing any picture of the busty bar owner she could find off her walls. She had pulled together quite the collection over the course of her brief crush on the older woman so it took a bit longer than she thought to completely strip her home of Moxxi's visage. Again, it surprised Janey just how immediately she was able to completely cast her fondness for Moxxi aside the second Athena appeared in her life. It might have made her feel kind of fickle but even she knew Moxxi had never seen her as anything other than a pain and a nuisance. The closest thing Janey had to a sensible, realistic part of her mind had always told her nothing would ever happen with the painted businesswoman but she had an inherent charm about her she couldn't turn off even if she tried. Also, boobs.

Regardless, the unrequited attraction she had had for Moxxi already paled in comparison to her growing feelings for the armoured woman outside her door.

She quickly finished removing every poster from her home before stuffing the crumpled pile of tattooed breasts and puckered lips into the back of her wardrobe and taking one last look around to make sure she got everything then rushing back to the door. Having half-expected Athena to have gotten bored and left she was pleased to see she was still standing where she had left her albeit looking slightly confused.

"Everything okay in there?" the gladiator asked tilting her head slightly to try and see past Janey.

"Yeah! Of course!" Janey replied a little more enthusiastically than she had meant to. "Just ah...I didn't want you seeing my gross underwear all over the place is all."

She laughed. Mostly as a way to defuse the situation's awkwardness but also out of disbelief that that was seriously the first excuse she could think of. She found it funny that she would rather Athena think her a slob who tossed her unmentionables just wherever than know she had a thing for the woman she had apparently been feuding with lately. The last thing she wanted after managing to get Athena to agree to spend the night was for her to feel uncomfortable.

"Wouldn't want to scare you away or anything". Janey hadn't planned for the sentence to come out quite as sultry and flirtatious as it did but there it was. Athena seemed somewhat taken aback for a moment before she shook her head and grinned. The junk dealer liked to think she saw a slight seductive glint in the gladiator's eye but wishful thinking had always been Janey's thing.

"A month ago I was sleeping in an abandoned skag den." Athena said, shrugging. "Whatever laundry situation you have in there, I'm certain we can deal with it."

"What's a skag? Some kind of terrible, Pandoran beastie?" Janey asked. She had always been kind of intrigued by Pandora but all she ever seemed to hear about it was how many horrible ways to die there were down there.

"You…could say that?" Athena replied with uncertainty "More of a pest really. Pandora has far more dangerous creatures."

"Well, fortunately my apartment does not. Come on in." the blonde junk seller said gesturing into her home.

Athena hesitated for a second before somewhat awkwardly moving forward past Janey into the apartment.

"…thank you." The gladiator murmured as she moved past.

Janey couldn't help but grin widely. "Weapons at the door, please!" she added before closing the door behind them.

* * *

><p>One sizable pile of weapons by the door later the two had moved into the apartment's front room. Athena glanced around taking in her surroundings. For something apparently converted from an old soldier's quarters, and a Dahl soldier at that, the black marketeer had managed to make it very homely. In the centre of the room were a sofa and two chairs, none of them belonging to the same set. A few other mismatched pieces of furniture stood against the walls, probably gradually collected spoils from Janey's scavenging career. Decorations hung from the walls, a carved wooden mask, old Mercenary Day lights and an idyllic painting of blue skies and green grass. A planet far from here.<p>

Janey spun around in the centre of the room and spread out her arms. "So, this is where I sleep when I'm not passing out at my desk! What do you think?"

"It's nice." Athena replied. "I didn't think old Dahl quarters would be so…roomy."

"I know, right? It turns out running a business that provides most of the bits and pieces that keep the city running ended up nabbing me an old officer's place. There's a few of them down here. I think maybe this was a general's place or something before Dahl took off. It's got a kitchen and a bathroom and everything! Oh, speaking of which…"

Janey raised her finger and pointed it a door to Athena's left.

"…bathroom is through there. If you want to go check out the shower I'll get started on some dinner. Sound good?"

Athena glanced at the bathroom door. Everything about Athena's demeanour radiated awkwardness. The woman looked about as far out of her comfort zone as one could be but, if that comfort zone was out in the wastes searching for scraps to eat and an oxygenated shed to sleep in while scavs shot at her then Janey was all too happy to offer the gladiator an alternative. Athena looked back to Janey and gave her a small, tired smile.

"I…yeah. Okay. That…does sound good."

She turned and began to move towards the bathroom door when Janey remembered something.

"Oh! Hang on a second!"

She ran over to a nearby set of drawers and pulled out a few folded, grey bits of clothing before walking back over and thrusting them into Athena's hands.

"Let me take your clothes first!"

Athena's eyes went very round and her lips parted as if about to say something but were interrupted by the sound of Janey facepalming, her hand slapping loudly against her forehead and then just resting there as she frowned beneath it.

"Obviously…" She said with no small amount of embarrassment, pinching the bridge of her nose as her eyes clenched shut "…what I **meant** by that was I'll put them in the wash while you're in there and you can wear those until they're done."

Again, Athena opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted.

"Anyway! You go ahead, take as long as you need. Just leave your armour and stuff outside the door and I'll get it cleaned up for tomorrow. I'm gonna go get some food ready. I'll be through here in the kitchen if you need me. Okay? Okay."

Janey quickly hurried off through the doorway behind her and around a corner before Athena could respond. Probably just as well. Coherent sentences seemed to abandon the gladiator whenever Janey was involved, replaced by more of the um'ing and ah'ing she seemed to be becoming fluent at since meeting the blonde. She looked to the small pile of clothes in her hands and pondered when the last time she had been given anything to wear that wasn't Atlas-approved was. "Never" was probably the answer there, or at least far too long ago for her to recall.

This evening had already been abundant with things the gladiator had never experienced before but, for some reason, this one was hitting her harder than most. She closed her eyes and gripped the clothes tighter, just taking a second to silently appreciate the gesture and commit the moment to memory. If nothing else came of this, if Athena left tomorrow morning and never saw Janey again, she wanted to at least remember this. The unfamiliar, somewhat overwhelming feeling of someone actually caring about her.

**Idiot.**

**Foolish child.**

**Weakling.**

The barking voice of her old Atlas instructor in her head let her know in no uncertain terms how it felt about the sentiment. It urged her to throw the soft clothes in her hands down and stride proudly back out into the world of blood and battle in which she belonged. She glanced at the door that led back out in the Concordia hallway behind her. She could be out of that door and probably out of Concordia altogether before Janey came back. The thought was there. It would likely be better for everyone if she left.

And yet there she was, still standing in the middle of Janey's front room holding the girl's pyjamas in her hands.

She shoved the temptation from her mind before turning and walking through the bathroom door, closing it behind her.

* * *

><p>It felt like forever since she had shed her armour. It was pretty much a second skin by this point but it had seen far better days. Her old assassin suit had fallen into disrepair without Atlas resources to maintain it. Athena had tried her best to keep it from falling apart entirely but what she could do was limited and what was left looked ragged at best. She removed her one remaining pauldron and her dented chestplate followed by her gauntlet and then her boots. With all of the metal parts of her suit removed she took off her hood and scarf, her gloves and then the swiftsuit she wore under her armour leaving her standing in the middle of the bathroom in her plain, military underwear. She glanced sideways at the mirror on the wall. Her extensive collection of scars had grown since she had taken up mercenary work, the most recent being an angry red gash in her right shoulder she had obtained from her team's fight with the guardian of Eleseer. She had already treated it with an insta-health but it would likely still leave behind a nasty mark once fully healed. Her body was toned but thinner than was probably healthy. Meals often didn't come easy in her line of work. When she got a job she would eat. If not? Well, that was why she had ended up taking Jack's offer to begin with.<p>

She slipped out of her underwear and added them to the mound of armour and carefully folded clothing she had assembled before sliding it out of the bathroom door as her bubbly, blonde host had instructed. Athena couldn't shake the feeling of vulnerability being without both her armour and weapons but Janey was right, her suit had been in need of cleaning for a while now but being a wandering mercenary meant opportunities to attend to her laundry were exceedingly rare. She stepped into the shower and hit the activation switch releasing a sigh as she felt her muscles instantly begin to relax under the torrent of hot water. She ran her fingers through her hair attempting wash the lunar dust out of it before wrapping her arms around herself and rubbing her shoulders just trying to relieve some of the tension she was feeling.

Athena liked to think she was a practical woman. She had never been one to waste time with denial. She liked Janey Springs. She liked her in a confusing way she was utterly unfamiliar with. Admitting that to herself in private was easy but she knew admitting it to the grinning blonde bundle of cute outside would be a great many times more difficult. She didn't even know where to start with something like this. Most people learned how to deal with it at some point in their early life but Athena hadn't had that luxury.

She leaned forward against the shower wall letting her wet hair fall over her face and the water flow down her back while she desperately attempted to pull herself together. She needed to stay in control. Control over her own life was all she had left. No home, no family, no money but her mind was her own. That was what she told herself on the nights she slept in the cold dirt with an empty stomach but right now all of that mental discipline of hers barely counted for anything.

Hiding in the shower until she figured out what to do was tempting but, not only did she realise Janey's hot water was probably finite, but it would be cowardly. Athena knew she was a lot of things but never a coward. She hadn't become the Crimson Lance's top operative by hiding from her enemies but this time there **was** no enemy. Athena had been raised to deal with problems by stabbing them. Her life rarely presented her with situations in which that solution wasn't an option. Combat was easy. Simple. This was something she just wasn't equipped to deal with.

She looked into the palm of her hand remembering the feeling of Janey's fingers against hers and suddenly, inexplicably, every bit of the frustration building up inside her simply fell away. Her muscles relaxed and her mind calmed.

She wasn't prepared for this, but she had never run from anything in her life and she wasn't about to start now.

When Athena was finished she stepped out of the shower and used a towel to dry herself. Once she had dried her hair she pulled the towel away from her head and looked in the mirror. The vigorous towel-drying she had given it had caused her short, black hair to wildly stick out in practically every direction. She had never really cared much about her appearance or how other people perceived her but now she felt oddly self-conscious.

She picked one of the garments off the small pile Janey had given her and unfolded it holding it out in front of her. She grimaced slightly as she instantly noticed a small problem with them she felt like she should have spotted sooner.

"Well, that's…unfortunate."

She glanced at herself in the mirror once more before shrugging and pulling the top over her head.

* * *

><p>"<strong>Let me take your clothes.<strong>"

"That's great. Good job, Springs."

Janey pulled the switch on her washing machine and stepped back as it buzzed into life. She had placed the metal parts of Athena's suit in a separate machine she used to clean the filth off of the pieces of junk she brought back with her whenever she ventured out into the wastes. Satisfied the job was done she walked back into the kitchen to check on dinner. She was just piling the grilled rathyd she had prepared onto a plate and seasoning it when she heard the door to the bathroom open.

"You find the shower okay?" She called into the front room while she was grabbing a couple of beers from the fridge. "Sometimes it just needs a good kick to get it going".

"It was fine." was the simple answer she received from through the doorway.

"Bonzer! Make yourself at home in there. I'll be through with your grand banquet in just a sec."

Janey opened the two beers and put them along with the plate onto a metal tray. She briefly considered digging around to see if she had a romantic candle anywhere but decided against it. Picking up the tray she began to walk through into the front room but stopped dead in the doorway, not prepared for the sight that awaited her.

Athena was about 5'2. Not the tallest lady. Janey on the other hand was a full six feet and never before had the height gap between the two women been more obvious than right now.

The sleeves and legs of the pyjamas Janey had loaned Athena were far too long for the gladiator's comparatively short limbs with the tips of her toes and fingers barely poking out of the ends. Athena had also tied her hair back into a tiny ponytail that worked **way** too well for her.

Janey knew keeping her attraction to the gladiator in check would be difficult from the moment she had invited her home but this was something else entirely.

"Ahah…s-sorry, I toootally didn't think about our size difference there. My bad. Wow, those little heels on your boots really do wonders don't they."

Shut up. Shut up. Stop calling her short. Shut up.

Fortunately Athena's attention had been far too fixed on the tray Janey was carrying since she entered the room to really acknowledge her comment. The blonde had no idea how long it had been since the gladiator had last eaten but the look in her eyes was similar to that of a puppy trying to deal with someone dangling a steak in front of its face. Janey quickly took the opportunity for a change of subject.

"Anyway, I made these! Nothing fancy but this stuff and old Dahl ration packs are basically what I live off these days."

She set the tray down on the overturned crate that served as her coffee table and grabbed one of the beers seating herself on a chair opposite Athena. She picked up a piece of rathyd and was about to bite into when she noticed Athena was just sitting there staring at the plate. Janey thought back to that moment in the bar when she had wondered how little kindness Athena must have received in her life to look so shocked at Janey's offer of shelter for the night. If that was really the case she could kind of understand the trouble the gladiator might be having right now. If Janey had to do a little work to help her along then she was fine with that.

"Athena?"

The gladiator's eyes immediately snapped up from the mound of food to look at her. Janey reached over and offered the piece in her hand.

"Here. Try some. I'm not the best cook but it's hard to go wrong with grilled rathyd."

Athena hesitated for a moment before all but snatching the piece of meat from Janey's hand and sinking her teeth into it, the woman's hunger getting the better of her. After barely chewing her first mouthful she swallowed and finished the rest of the piece in two more huge bites. She quickly realised she had lost control and chewed the last bite more thoroughly looking more than a little embarrassed. Janey smiled and slid the tray a few inches across the crate in Athena's direction.

"Come on, dig in! I can't finish this whole thing by myself."

She smiled at her guest who was clearly still uncomfortable with somebody doing something nice for her without expecting anything in return but, thankfully, her empty stomach spoke louder than her insecurities.

"Thank you…" she muttered as she reached for a second piece.

Over the next few minutes Janey deliberately ate very little wanting to leave the majority of the shared meal to Athena. She had eaten that day. That week even. She wasn't sure Athena could say the same. She looked worryingly spindly. When the gladiator had eaten so fast she began to choke Janey had quickly passed her the second beer to wash it down with and when they were done with the meal she cleared the tray away. After just setting it down somewhere in the kitchen to deal with later she returned to the front room and sat down on the sofa next to Athena.

"Now, I don't know how highly you rate dumb late-night ECHOnet shows but tonight the latest episode of my favourite got released so for the next half hour leave your brain at the door and behold the majesty that is Big Pete's Scrapyard Laboratory!"

Athena shrugged. "My ECHO device is military issue. Recordings and communication only. Atlas didn't allow civilian broadcasts. "

"That is…" Janey replied glaring sideways at Athena "…**all kinds** of tragic. Remind me before you leave and I'll tweak your gear a little bit. Get you some of this quality entertainment. The least one can hope for after a day of getting shot at is being able to watch a bunch of idiots almost blow themselves up trying to make a motorcycle out of a toilet after all". A brief laugh escaped Athena's lips and Janey thought it might just be the prettiest sound she had ever heard.

She picked up a nearby remote pointing it in the direction of the display unit she had attached to the wall and pressing a button. The screen turned on and a loud, energetic female voice immediately erupted from the speakers.

"A cybernetic limb! I could program all of DT's digistruct data into one robotic arm, and use that to summon DT at any time, any place! So I figure, what the heck, and I slice off the rest of my arm with a particle saw!"

Janey quickly hit another button and the voice stopped.

"Agh! Sorry, it must be playing what I was watching last. Some ECHOcast about this Eden-5 girl building a robot for her science fair or something. Seemed kind of cool. Anyway! Let's get to it."

Janey hit the button again and the show began. Over the next thirty minutes or so Janey was happy to notice Athena's tense posture relax considerably. It seemed like she was beginning to feel more comfortable in Janey's presence.

The show was just starting to come to an end when Janey felt something against her shoulder. Turning to her left she saw that Athena had completely fallen asleep, her head coming to rest on the junk dealers shoulder. Janey should have known. Athena had been fighting to stay awake all night and it seemed she had finally reached her limit. Janey had no idea how long she had been awake for but clearly too long to be healthy.

The temptation to simply stay there and fall asleep beside Athena was a powerful one but she resisted. Worming her way out from under Athena's head she gently lay the slumbering gladiator down across the sofa on her side and retrieved a blanket she carefully draped over her. When she had made sure her guest was comfortable she sat on the sofa beside her, taking just a moment to look at her. All of the tension in Athena's face and body had just evaporated and, for the first time since Janey had met her, she looked at peace.

The blonde girl forced herself to get up and leave the gladiator's side but as she was doing so she heard sleepy mumbling from behind her.

"Janey?"

She turned around. Athena's eyes were still closed and she hadn't moved. It seemed she was barely awake.

"Yeah?" Janey replied.

"You are…also very beautiful…"

"What?"

"Earlier…you called me beautiful…I wanted to…return the compliment…you are…as well…"

Janey opened her mouth to try and respond but suddenly found herself completely without words. The exhausted woman on the sofa was able to mumble out just one more thing before drifting back off into sleep.

"Too beautiful…for this place…"

Janey smiled. She couldn't not. Allowing herself to follow her feelings, just for a moment, she sat back down onto the sofa beside Athena and leant over to lightly press her lips to the slumbering gladiator's cheek lingering just a little bit longer than she had promised herself she would. When she raised her head again she was surprised to see Athena's eyes open again and look up at her. She said nothing simply staring up into Janey's eyes with an expression the junk dealer was unable to read, but there was an intensity in the gladiator's gaze that made the blonde suddenly feel very flustered.

Every single fibre of Janey's being urged her to give in. To simply lean down one more time only this time to catch Athena's lips instead but she didn't. She couldn't. Wishful thinking aside, she felt like there was a mutual attraction between them but, if there was a chance pushing the gladiator too far too fast would cause her to freak out and run then Janey couldn't risk it. Not if a little patience might make all the difference. Instead she smiled down at her and reached up to brush a lock of hair that had escaped Athena's ponytail back behind her ear. It was an intimate gesture but it was all she could do to resist her compulsions. She gently stroked her thumb across Athena's cheek hoping it was enough to communicate even a fraction of what she was feeling right now.

"Good night, Athena." she said softly. "I'll see you tomorrow. Don't…go running off before I wake up or anything, okay?"

Athena paused but didn't break eye contact for even a second.

"…I won't."

"Good. Sweet dreams, yeah?"

With a lot of effort Janey pulled her hand away from Athena's cheek and rose from the sofa again. Once she was in her own room with the door closed she sat on her bed and buried her face in her hands. Athena was leaving tomorrow. Possibly forever. Janey couldn't afford to fall for her as hard as she was and yet she couldn't help herself. She flopped down onto her back and stared up at the ceiling sighing and closing her eyes as she muttered quietly to the empty room.

"You sure know how to pick 'em, Springs…"


	4. Loyal To People Is Something Else

A/N: Shorter chapter this time. I apologise in advance for the ensuing angst but apparently I cannot write a romance story without something going horribly wrong at some point. Don't worry though. If I'm your woefully undertrained pilot on this journey then consider this your temporary turbulence warning. Buckle up, think happy thoughts and maybe the wings won't fall off.

Seriously, guys. This whole thing is basically one big excuse for me to write chapter five.

* * *

><p>Fingernails running up her thigh. Lips brushing against her ear. A knee riding up between her legs. A gasp filled Athena's lungs and her chest rose sharply as those lips drifted down her neck and lightly pinched her collarbone. A desperate moan followed. Was that her voice? Impossible. She tried to open her eyes but it was as if everything around her was made of light. The brightness stung her eyes like walking out into the sun after years in the dark. The lips left her collarbone and she could just barely make out a single pink streak of hair rise into view followed by a familiar grin. Athena felt the hand on her thigh slip under her top and slowly travel up her torso. The gladiator tried to move but she felt like every bit of strength in her body had simply fallen away. The grin and pink streak moved closer and she heard a familiar voice thick with Elpis accent.<p>

"Athena? You're **real** pretty…"

The lips continued to move closer until they were so close Athena could feel their every breath ghost over her own.

"…just throwing that out there…"

Athena woke up thrashing and panting, only just managing to avoid tumbling off the sofa completely. She clutched at her chest desperately trying to slow her breathing and keep her heart from hammering out of her ribcage. Just when she was beginning to wonder what the hell had just happened her tall, blonde host appeared in the kitchen doorway. She wore a wide-eyed, startled expression like the face of someone who had just been woken by a gunshot.

"Bloody hell! What is it? What's wrong?" Janey asked in a panic.

"W-what?" Athena responded, still utterly flustered.

"You uh…you called my name just now?" The concern in Janey's face slowly drained, replaced with mild confusion.

"I…did?"

"Yeah, you sounded like a thresher had you by the head in here!" The blonde girl raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright?"

"Yes…I'm fine. No need to worry."

Had she called out Janey's name? She couldn't remember doing anything of the sort.

"What time is it?" Athena asked rubbing her eyes.

"Oh. Um, it's actually getting into late afternoon. I kept thinking about waking you but you looked like you really needed the sleep there".

She looked a little sheepish. Guilty almost but, while Athena would have preferred not to have slept through the day, she couldn't bring herself to be upset with Janey for being concerned about her well-being. Instead the gladiator continued to stare at the blonde blankly for a second or two before her eyes drifted to the single pink streak of hair laying against the woman's left cheek and her heart jumped a little in her chest. The bizarre dream was still fresh in her mind. She pulled her eyes away as she felt heat rushing to her face, swinging her feet out of the blanket onto the cold metal floor and running her hands into her hair.

What is wrong with you?

**Snap out of it.**

"Alright…" Athena eventually responded. Her voice came out sounding uncharacteristically shaky and fragile but, thankfully, if Janey noticed she didn't say anything. A moment of silence passed between the two women before the blonde smiled and spoke again.

"To be honest I was just about to look into waking you anyway so great timing! Come on in here, I've got something to show you."

"I…actually need to-". Athena briefly attempted to protest but Janey had already vanished into the kitchen humming to herself.

The gladiator sighed and rose from the sofa. Following Janey into the kitchen she was about to continue her objection when the scent of something incredible slammed into Athena's nostrils the second she stepped into the room. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the small table and two chairs in the middle of the room. On the table rested two plates, one of which had several flat, circular objects Athena had never seen before piled upon it. Janey was busy at the stove but turned her head enough to nod towards the empty chair in front of the mound of wonderful-smelling discs.

"Go on then! I can't possibly have you departing Janey Springs' hospitality without breakfast at least."

No. Ask her where your armour is. You need to go. You've lingered here for too long already. Just get back into your suit and-

**What are you doing? **Don't sit down, you idiot. You can't stay here. You can't-

"So…what am I looking at here?" Athena regarded the mysterious items on the plate in front of her as she sat down with a mixture of confusion and caution picking up a nearby fork and prodding one lightly.

"They're called pancakes!" Janey replied as if she had been waiting for that question. "I kinda hit the jackpot and found a few packs of them in the freezer when I moved in. Whoever lived here before me had quite a sweet tooth apparently. Try some, they're good!"

The blonde finished preparing her own helping before walking over and taking a seat opposite Athena. She cut off a big piece of one of the pancakes and popped it into her mouth starting to talk again before she had finished her mouthful.

"These are my last lot actually."

She swallowed her food and grinned.

"I guess you could say I've been saving them for a special occasion." she said looking squarely in Athena's direction.

"You…are too good to me." the gladiator replied, staring down at her food awkwardly.

It would have probably caused her to feel far less uncomfortable if Janey had said she expected something in return for all this but she didn't. She just kept on grinning like it was totally normal to just invite people into your home for food and shelter as well as what was likely an incredibly rare delicacy in this corner of space knowing they had nothing to give you for it. It bothered Athena because it went against everything she thought she knew about life on the border planets. About life in general really. She knew hundreds of protocols for dealing with people being hostile towards her but for someone like Janey? Nothing. She was…an anomaly.

"Hmmm. Nah. I think I'm exactly the right amount of good to you" she heard the blonde retort from across the small table.

Athena looked up just in time to catch the wink Janey sent her way. She quickly looked back to her food and began eating to try and distract herself from the vague fluttering sensation in her stomach.

What is happening to me?

"Did you sleep alright on my lumpy sofa by the way?"

Janey's question immediately caused the gladiator's strange dream to rush through her mind again and she almost choked on the mouthful she was working on but hammered her chest a couple of times and managed to recover.

"Y-yes. I did. It was fine. Thank you."

It was true. Disregarding her awakening, she couldn't remember the last time she had slept that well. She hadn't felt this good in a long time. When you only ever got an hour or two of rest a night if you were lucky it was easy to forget what being completely rejuvenated felt like.

The two women ate mostly in silence for the next few minutes until Janey spoke again.

"Hey, listen…"

The blonde scratched the back of her head and frowned slightly. She looked somewhat uneasy but continued regardless.

"I know we said just one night but if you haven't figured out what to do about leaving yet then you're totally free to…stick around a bit longer. You know, if you like."

Athena froze. The blonde had hit the nail on the head. The gladiator had planned to use last night to consider how she could possibly get off Elpis and back to Pandora with her current lack of funds but…

She glanced up at Janey who was, thankfully, not looking in her direction and focusing on her food. Athena felt a strange feeling wash over her. A complete lack of a need to do anything other than sit right there and watch the blonde junk-dealer eat. Or talk. Or do pretty much anything come to think of it. It worried her. It seemed just being near the blonde was affecting her efficiency in ways she couldn't have predicted. Instead of contemplating where her next job might be or how to replenish her dangerously low ammunition supplies with only a few dollars to her name she was sitting here wearing oversized pyjamas eating breakfast with an impossible woman who made her feel like she might be going crazy.

"I couldn't impose…" the gladiator eventually replied.

Janey laughed. "It may surprise you to hear this Athena, but, for one reason or another, I'm not exactly the most popular of people around these parts."

She shrugged and looked down to her food, poking the last few pieces of pancake around with her fork.

"Having some company is nice for a change, y'know?"

Athena's whole body turned rigid as the idea of simply **not** returning to Pandora took root in her mind for the first time. She could feel herself fighting the concept but she had to wonder why she was so determined to get back down there. If her time on Elpis had taught her anything it was that a mercenaries' services were needed here as much as they were on Pandora, only there wasn't as much competition to deal with. No bastard, leg-biting skags either.

It was strange. Normally that ever-present, chastising voice in her head would have done its best to prevent her from considering the idea any further and she could certainly hear it ranting away in the back of her mind about how ridiculous and pathetic she was being by even thinking about it but, for better or worse, Janey's presence seemed to make the voice…quieter. Easier to ignore.

"…I'll think about it."

A non-committal answer was all she could offer. Her mind was in far too chaotic a state right now for anything else.

"I have something I need to do though. Is my armour…"

"Oh! Yeah it's all cleaned up." Janey said gesturing at the door to the front room. "I put it in a pile over near the bathroom door"

"Okay" Athena replied before setting her cutlery down on her empty plate and rising from her chair.

"Thanks. For breakfast".

She began walking into the front room. Eager to make herself combat-ready again but, as she was walking away from the table she heard Janey's voice behind her.

"Will you be back?"

Athena stopped in the doorway. Her first instinct was to throw out another evasive response. A vague "maybe" or "we'll see" in case she somehow managed to stumble across a way back to Pandora while she was out but she knew she wasn't going anywhere. Not yet.

She glanced back over her shoulder at the blonde woman sitting at the kitchen table.

Athena hadn't decided whether to stay on Elpis indefinitely yet, but for now Pandora could wait. There would always be room for one more penniless vagabond with a gun down there. No need to rush.

The corner of Janey's mouth curled up into a somewhat anxious smile as she awaited the gladiator's answer.

No need at all.

"Yeah" she said attempting to sound as casual about it as she could. "I…shouldn't be long".

When Athena turned away again to leave she could almost feel the intensity of Janey's smile behind her. She crossed the room, grabbing the various pieces of her suit and going into the bathroom to change. When she had armoured up and left the bathroom Janey was nowhere in sight but before Athena had a chance to do much of anything the blonde's face appeared from around the corner in the kitchen. She looked the gladiator up and down before a wide grin spread across her face.

"Hey, lookin' good!" she said giving a thumbs up. "Wait a sec though, looks like I forgot something".

She rushed over into the small room in which her washing machines were kept and pulled something out of the dryer. When she turned around she was holding Athena's scarf in her hands. The gladiator had to take a brief moment to internally lament how distracted she was. She would have had to have been to just completely overlook something like that. Especially her scarf.

"Sorry, I must have left this behind when I was getting your suit ready. Here."

Athena held out her hand for Janey to put the scarf in but instead the blonde moved past it draping the scarf on the shorter girl's shoulders and wrapping it loosely around her neck. She tugged the front of the scarf to straighten it and smiled down at the shorter woman.

"There. Can't have you catching a cold can we? Elpis can be a little chilly for you out-of-towners."

Athena couldn't bring herself to meet Janey's eyes, instead choosing to stare down at the girl's collar bone. Anywhere but her eyes. If she did she felt like there was a chance she simply would not be able to summon up the conviction to walk away from her.

"I'll be fine." Athena replied. She stepped back and turned away, her scarf slipping from Janey's hands.

She pulled up her hood in an attempt to distance herself a little. If she was going to weigh up the pros and cons of life on Elpis she knew she couldn't do it here. Not with Janey's smile and those brown eyes seemingly everywhere she turned. She needed a chance to think objectively without her heart hammering in her chest. As long as she was here with Janey it seemed her mind would keep steering her away from thoughts of leaving.

"Ok! I uh…I guess I'll see you later then. If you come back and I'm not here then just come see me at my store, alright?"

Athena nodded. "Understood".

"Great. Good luck out there, yeah?" For a moment it looked as if Janey was contemplating a hug but quickly dropped the idea. Athena was grateful. While the idea of being embraced by the taller woman was…not unpleasant, she imagined such a thing would demolish her already somewhat fragile resolve to walk away. Instead Janey gave the gladiator one more smile before heading back into the kitchen to clean up.

Athena had to force her feet to turn and take her towards the front door but eventually they obeyed. She began to gather up the pile of weapons she had left there, attaching Aspis to the magnetic socket on her gauntlet and sheathing Xiphos but, as she was making sure the sword was attached to her waist correctly she noticed something across the room. It took her mind a couple of seconds to process what it was but, when it did, she immediately felt a profound chill run down her spine. It couldn't be. She immediately stopped what she was doing to walk over and grab the impossible red object pulling it out of the pile of scrap metal it was half-buried in and turning it over in her hands.

A Crimson Lance assassin helmet. Standard issue. Almost identical to the one she had once worn herself, albeit heavily damaged. Initially she felt shaken to see it here of all places but she supposed it made sense. With the Atlas Corporation's prior interest in Pandora it was reasonable to assume they might poke around on Elpis too at some point.

She stared solemnly into the cracked, red eye-lenses of the helmet. Who had this been? How had they lost their helmet? Perhaps killed by scavs or one of the various other threats on Elpis? Certainly not one of her squad if that was the case. None of her girls would have been careless enough to let anything on this moon get the better of them.

"Her girls". Quite the nostalgic term for the people she had turned on.

She clutched the helmet tighter as she felt herself being pulled into a memory. That familiar scene from her nightmares. Fire and destruction surrounded her as her fellow assassins slaughtered the screaming Pandoran villagers without mercy. That day Athena had held her own helmet in her hands similarly to how she was holding this one now and on the ground at her feet? The body of her sister, Jess.

She and Athena had been very young when Atlas came for them and the gladiator's memories of her life before that day had been crumpled and warped after the "integration" Atlas had put her through but Athena knew the girl's face from many nights spent lying awake staring at the files she had stolen from the Atlas database. The girl she could only vaguely remember who had apparently escaped the corporation's clutches. Athena had promised herself she would find her sister and they would escape together. Unfortunately her superiors had discovered her plan before she had managed to find Jess and orchestrated her sister's death to try and prevent Athena from leaving the Crimson Lance.

Having located the village Jess had been living in they had sent their assassins, Athena included, to destroy it as they had many other bandit settlements since they arrived on Pandora. They had specifically ordered only thermal vision was to be used so, during the chaos of the attack, Jess had just looked like a panicked, orange, person-shaped target like every other villager. In retrospect Athena should have known something was wrong but she had gotten used to eccentric demands from the higher-ups over her career. The only way she had known what she had done was when she had shoved a sword into one of those orange targets and it had screamed just like the sound she kept hearing in the fractured, unclear nightmares of her abduction. She had thrown down her swords and removed her helmet to see Jess, lying on her back with a stab wound through her chest. The thing that haunted Athena the most was when the dying woman had seen her face she had…smiled.

Had she actually recognised Athena or was it simply the madness of a dying mind? The gladiator had spent many a night tormenting herself with that question since the incident.

Either way, Jess had died with that smile on her face before Athena had been able to say anything and an overpowering sorrow began to consume her. A bloodied scarf in her sister's hand had caught her attention. Something about it seemed distantly familiar as if she had seen it before long ago and she had slowly leaned down with a shaking hand to pick it up. The scarf she wore to this day. The only piece of her sister she had left.

Then the rage came. She gripped the scarf tighter and tighter, gritting her teeth as every bit of her suppressed anger at Atlas for what they had done to her and her family finally boiled over until she had felt one of her fellow assassin's hands on her shoulder. She hadn't even thought. The helmet dropped from her hand as she whirled around and smashed her fist into the face of the assassin who had touched her with an unbridled cry of fury.

Except all of this had already happened. That assassin was long gone.

The sound of Janey crashing to the ground shattered the memory around Athena and roughly pulled her back into reality. It took the gladiator a second to realise what had happened as she blinked the haze away.

"Janey…?"

No.

No no no no no.

Horror gripped every inch of her. She stepped back and looked down with panic to the trembling hand she had lashed out with. The hand she had used to attack two people she cared about now. She looked back to Janey and, for one terrifying moment, the blonde woman's fallen form looked very similar to that of Jess on that night.

"Janey, I…I didn't…"

Janey managed to turn over and looked up at her from the floor holding her bruised cheek. The dazed woman's expression was one of confusion and disbelief that tore straight into Athena's heart. The blonde's eyes asked her why and the gladiator only had one answer.

"I'm sorry…"

She ran. Athena had never fled from anything in her long and violent career but the thought of Janey sharing the same fate as her sister ripped her apart inside. If she truly was just a weapon, a tool for harming people and nothing more, then she couldn't risk staying here with Janey any longer. She was a fool to think Atlas hadn't broken her and every soldier knew a faulty weapon was nothing but a danger to everything around it.

She had already been responsible for her sister's death. The thought of ever being responsible for Janey's was too much for her to bear.

Athena left her pile of guns behind and sprinted for the apartment's front door throwing it open and running out into the hallway. For a moment she thought she could hear Janey calling after her but she was already in the elevator and hammering the button labelled "SURFACE" with the bottom of her fist before any of it really registered in her distraught mind. Once the elevator had sprung to life and began moving she stumbled back against one of the walls and slowly slid down it, her armour scraping against the metal, until she was sitting on the floor in a dejected heap. She let her head fall back against the wall and stared forlornly up at the ceiling.

"Time to go..." the despondent gladiator murmured quietly to the empty elevator at it climbed higher towards the Concordia streets.


End file.
